Representatives of Narmada Valley Storm into Chief Minister's Residence
Demands for a just and pro-people stand in the Review Committee

Over 100 representatives of farmers and peasants from the Nimad and
Alirajpur villages of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, affected by the gigantic
Sardar Sarovar project, stormed into the residence of the Chief Minister of
Madhya Pradesh, Shri. Digvijay Singh at Bhopal today morning. They were
demanding that the Chief Minister meet them and clarify the position that
the Government of Madhya Pradesh was going to take on the immediate future
of SSP in the Interstate Review Committee meeting of the Chief Ministers of
all concerned states (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan)
at Delhi on the 10th of January, 2001. They were, however, arrested and
moved out of the premises.

The Chief Minister later met a delegation led by Medha Patkar at the state
Guest House. In the meeting, NBA briefed the Chief Minister on the present
ground status of rehabilitation in the State. The October 18th majority
decision of the Supreme Court had ordered construction of the dam upto 90m
along with the complete resettlement of those affected upto this dam height
and also ordered for the preparation of a Master plan within a month's
time. For this, the project affected families were to be resettled by 31st
December 2000. NBA brought to light most recent documents of the Narmada
Control Authority, which clearly prove that, in blatant violation of the
Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award and the Supreme Court order, 960
families were yet to be resettled as of January. In Madhya Pradesh alone,
atleast 740 families were still to be resettled. In reality, the number of
oustees who are affected at 90 mts and yet to be resettled is in excess of
2000 families.

After giving a patient hearing, Shri Digvijay Singh told the delegation
that the position of the Madhya Pradesh Government in tomorrow's meeting
would be decided today evening after his meeting with the concerned officials.

This situation in Madhya Pradesh is due to the fact that the
Government of Madhya Pradesh does not have a single acre of agricultural
land to facilitate resettlement for any project affected family in Madhya
Pradesh. Instead of making available cultivable agricultural land, the
Government of Madhya Pradesh is trying to force the people to accept cash
compensation. The people have rejected this offer as being illegal and
detrimental to their future and to the future of the coming generations.
In fact, such an offer is violative of the land-for-land policy clearly
stipulated in the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award. NBA asked for an
immediate stoppage to such an anti-people proposal of the Government.

NBA further pointed out that the required Master Plan was still not ready.
The Narmada Control Authority had prepared a time frame for the
construction of the dam and resettlement processes. NBA urged that the
Government of Madhya Pradesh NOT approve this since it contains no details
of the final number of project affected families nor does it carry any
details whatsoever of the availability of agricultural land for
resettlement. Shri Digvijay Singh clarified that they had not yet approved
that proposed time frame.

NBA also added that there were several outstanding issues regarding
resettlement in Madhya Pradesh that needed to be resolved immediately. The
facts that the number of PAFs in the State has officially increased from
33014 to 35716 families, as per NVDA and NCA, and will increase by 'few
thousands more' according to them. Till the final number of PAFs to be
affected is not arrived at, there can be no estimation of the amount of
agricultural land required for them in resettlement. Coupled with this is
that the land records are in shambles in the submergence villages which
needs to be resolved immediately. NBA also reiterated its finding that the
level surveys for demarcating the submergence zone, is erroneous by
atleast 3m which if not looked into immediately would lead to a Bargi-like
situation where 162 villages were actually submerged instead of the slated
101 villages!

The people raised the important question that "Why is the Government of
Madhya Pradesh taking such a compromising position at the cost of tens of
thousands of its people?" They insisted that the Chief Minister should not
adopt this kind of a position when faced with the bullying tactics of the
Government of Gujarat. Andolan made it clear that it would decide and take
its next step depending on the position taken and the outcome of the
Interstate Review Committee meeting.